Monday Morning Fika: Celeste Jones on More Ebooks For Newbies

Welcome to Monday Morning Fika! Today Celeste Jones has come back to talk more about ebooks. She was our very first Fika guest, and so many people were interested in her beginner’s introduction to ebooks that I asked her to come back today. She’s offering her grandmother’s sugar cookies for the discussion today. Yum! Also, she’s giving away a copy of her newest book, The Birthday Wish, to one lucky commenter today. Here’s a hint: she likes cookies. 😀

Free to All: How to Enjoy eBooks Without an eReader or a Big Budget

Hi Everyone,

I know many of you are excited about Ana’s book, The Vengeance of Mrs. Claus, but you might wonder how you’ll be able to read it if you don’t have an eReader like a Kindle, Nook or iPad. Maybe you read books on with a Kindle App on your phone, but your eyes might like to try reading on a bigger screen with larger font. Or you might want to get an eReader but you don’t want to spend a ton of money on books. Well, I’m here today to share some budget minded tips to do both.

How do I read ebooks without an ereader? Like last time, I’ll be talking solely about Amazon because that’s what I know. Sorry B&N. First go to Amazon.com and find a book you’d like to read. Now look over to the right at the green box with the yellow buy button in it. In that same box you’ll see some blue print that says “Available on your pc”. If you click there you can download a Kindle app (for free!) to your computer. Do this from the computer or device on which you want the app downloaded. A nice little kindle icon will appear on your desk top.

If you want to test drive the kindle app on your pc before buying, it will come with a few books already loaded. Mine came with Pride and Prejudice, which is one of my favorites. Just click on one of those books and read a few pages to see if you like it reading a book on your computer. I bet you will.

Once you have the app on your computer, you can download books. Log in to your account on Amazon. Find a book you’d like to buy. Now look at that same yellow box and it will say “Buy now with 1-click” and “Deliver to (your) kindle for PC.” Click the yellow button and voila, the book will be delivered to the kindle app on your desk top.

Look at you! You’re reading an ebook!

Next question: How do I get great books without spending a fortune? Well, for one thing, most ebooks are priced at $2.99 and below which is at least half of what most paperback books cost. However, I know that with click and buy it is easy to spend a bit more than you expected in just a few minutes.

Good News: There are many free books available.

Free? Why would someone give away their book? Good question. Many writers, including myself, list their books for free for a few days in order to get more exposure to new readers. I did a free promo for my book Underwear Probation and as a result, sales of my other books have increased. I’ve found many authors will do a free promo for the first or second book in a series hoping that you’ll get hooked and want to read, and buy, the other books in the series.

Where do I find the free books?www.kindlespice.com lists free erotic books on a daily basis, so that’s a good place to start. www.fkbooksandtips.com lists free books from all categories. Amazon also has lists of top 100 free books, as well as the top 100 free books in different categories like erotica, romance, regency and a variety of non-fiction topics as well.

Once you find one of those free books that you’d like to read and you’ve downloaded it, take a look at the “customers who bought this book also bought” list below that book and you’ll probably find a few other free books there too. It’s like a scavenger hunt!

On twitter you can search for hashtags like #kindlefreebie or #freebook.

Warning: Double check to make sure the book is still free before you download. Most free promotions last five days or less so if you find a link to a free book that was posted a couple days ago, it might not still be free.

Another way to get free books is to win them by entering contests on blogs. I know some of you have won books already this month with Ana’s Advent Calendar. Many bloggers give away books particularly when they are hosting a writer who is promoting a new book. In fact, I’ll be giving away a copy of one of my books, The Birthday Wish, to one lucky commenter today.

Amazon Prime. Again, I’m not getting a kick back from Amazon, even though it might look that way. I am not a member of Amazon Prime, but I know a little bit about it and I’m sure a few others out there might have information to share. Amazon Prime costs $79 per year. Members get free two day shipping, streaming video of TV shows and movies, and can borrow one book per month for free from the books that are part of the Kindle Owners Lenders Library (KOLL). Books which are part of this program usually say “Borrow Free With Amazon Prime”.

Now that you have saved so much money, you’ll have plenty leftover to buy The Vengeance of Mrs. Claus and maybe even one of my books too.

Thanks for having me Ana.

Was it all just a dream? Divorced, alone, and jabbing a candle into a frozen cupcake was not Mimi’s idea of a perfect 40th birthday. Heck, it wasn’t her idea of ANY birthday. She hated her body, hated her life, and most especially hated her non-existent sex life. And she was absolutely certain that she’d never fulfill her secret desire to be spanked. Until she closed her eyes, blew out the candle, and made a wish…

Sorry Julia. I know what you mean. I went through my kindle the other day and realized there are quite a few books that I’d forgotten I’d even downloaded. But it’s nice to have a big selection when I do feel like reading.

I agree with Julia, I am already WAY behind on my reading, and still way to distracted this holiday season without being given free ways to not do stuff.
As a fellow GOOBer, I am NOT going to give you a delish baking recipe. That is my cookie gift to you Celeste.

I am interesting in your new book though…darn it! Maybe after Christmas.

You can follow Kindle Spice on Twitter and get their daily updates for freebies. Also, when I did my free promos they posted my books for free, though you can also pay for an ad that stays up longer and the prices were pretty reasonable.

Thanks for the info! I don’t have a kindle, but I do have a laptop and have wanted to read more online books! I found out from facebook I could read online,but had no idea about kindlespice! Great info!! Now I need to have a good chunk of private time to read….

Blog hops are a great way to win free books — or gift certificates that allow you to get the book of your choice for free. And, unlike the lotto, it is surprisingly easy to win because surprising few people enter! Watch Twitter and Facebook for hops.

There’s a big one coming up Jan. 2-6, the Naughty New Year’s Hop (http://www.skyewarren.com/hop/). There’s over 200 authors participating, all offering prizes, plus one of the grand prizes is a 10-book erotica package. I’ll be offering a gift certificate to Loose Id, my erotic romance publisher.

Hi Ana and Celeste,
I have windows 8 on my PC’s and have installed Kindle for windows 8. Works fine, but you cannot send personal documents to this version of the Kindle software. Only books bought on Amazon.
So when I emailed Ana’s book from Blushing Books to my Kindle, it showed up in the Kindle program on my Android tablet, but not on my PC.
I solved that by installing the Kindle software for windows7 on my PC, download the .mobi file from Blushing books to my PC and after double clicking on the file it appeared in the Windows7 version of Kindle. You don’t get the whispersync in this way, because the book is not saved in the Cloud.
It still does not appear in the Windows8 version of the Kindle program on the same PC.

I still have a few thousands ebooks on my reading list. How will I ever get trough them?

Thanks for the links to the free books. More stuff for my reading list!
And in between, I even have to write stories myself.
Stressful business, that reading.

Hopefully 3rd times the charm- this’ll be my 3rd attempt at posting this morning- yes, I’ve already whined at Ana for this :D. But Celeste, what about Kindle Cloud? That’s what I’ve been using on my netbook to read “The Vengeance of Mrs. Claus”? And I certainly don’t need any free ebook sites atm 😀 I’m already behind on my reading- along with everything else I do lol. You gotta try this peanut butter cookies! They’re great, even when I play with them to vegan-ize them or switch up the oil for pureed pumpkin to make them even healthier.

LOL, thanks, Celeste… yup, I was going to post, darn it 😀 And yup, the cookies, I’ve snuck past many a person- who didn’t know they were “healthier” or (in my case) vegan. I still want to try the mashed banana sub. for the egg… peanut butter and banana sounds good 😀

Great information, Celeste! Hey, do you think you can come teach my mom how to use her Kindle? LOL. I’m halfway through reading The Birthday Wish and I’m enjoying it very much…hopefully finishing it will be my bedtime treat tonight!

This is great information, Celeste. So many people don’t know this. I had Kindle for Mac and for iPhone for a long time before I broke down and bought a paperwhite. I love it, too, but when I’m in the queue waiting for my kid to get out of school, I can still pick up my iphone and read a few pages. It’s a great alternative.

One of the features that I like is the “sync to furthest page read” so that if you read a few pages on your phone and then pick up your kindle, it automatically goes to where you last were in the book rather than your last page on that particular device. It’s like a magic bookmark.

So true about being able to read a page here and there. It sure makes waiting in line better when you have a book to read.

I had to wait for 30-40 minutes to get a check (after the server had brought out our to-go boxes and we were clearly waiting to leave) in a restaurant the other day. I would have been annoyed, but I had my Kindle. I wasn’t annoyed. However, I didn’t leave a tip.

What I don’t like about having a real kindle is that if someone wants to see it, they take it out of my hands and start browsing. I even purposely set my screen to Jane Eyre for that reason, and my mom and her friend started looking through my book collection!! With all the spanking stories! I was not amused.

I certainly didn’t think that my friend and her mom would go browsing! I didn’t even know her mom knew how to operate a touch screen. Lesson learned. Oh, and Celeste…I blame you. Underwear Probation was one of the books on the top. 🙂

heh family looking through the library 😀 I’m planning to buy a UU book first thing with my new Kindle on Christmas… and then when everyone gets into their own stuff, maybe then I’ll buy some spanking fiction 😀

Aha, yes, the library 🙂 Yes, just read up that Amazon Prime is only available in the US, UK, Germany and France. But KOLL seems to only be available in US. Thank you, though. I was just curious about how lending/borrowing worked.

Well Celeste, after your instructions (for ‘me’ maybe 4 times lol) I think I may actually do it this time. I usually wait until I can buy on B&N.
However Bas you confused the heck out of me talking about all those other versions….!
Can’t you just download from Blushings on your computer??? I usually just read from my library there.
I am never going to have time…..or anything interesting to blog. My head is always buried in a book of sorts.

Like I said above, I’m sending all ereader questions to Bas. Tell him I sent you. 😀

Yes, you can download BB books to your computer. You can use conversion programs (or download a different format) and then transfer it to your ereader…but if you read it on your computer that is easiest.

With Blushings you don’t need conversion programs anymore! You can download it in as many versions as you need right to your computer and email them to your kindle from there. Mobi is the kindle file in case anyone was wondering. I love this new feature at BB! It has saved me a ton of time!

Minelle,
Blushing is ideal because you can just choose what you want to have, you can get all kinds of formats.
And when one format doesn’t work you can always download another format.
When you need details, just email.

I have both a nook and a kindle and now that I’ve gone digital I will never go back. I know e-reader’s can seem pricey, but they are so worth the investment. They save so much money in the long haul! Also, if your a book hoarder like me your family will be so much happier that all of your books take up the space of just one book! You can also read as many naughty stories as you want without anyone else having a clue! I love it!

Exactly! It’s wonderful to have all those books at your fingertips so you always have something to read depending on your mood. Next time I move I won’t have to haul quite so many boxes of books, either.

Celeste thank you so much for all the tips. I had not heard about kindle spice. Will have to check it out. I love my kindle I was againt it for two years when my hubby wanted to get it loved my books. Got it last year for Christmas from my sister & I love it! I have read over 150 books because always avaible at my fingertips. I love that you can try samples too. That’s how I found you 🙂 I sneak in reading in line at the grocery store, football game,at the drs, boring meetings by using the kindle app on my iPhone. Love sync feature. I did this summer password protect my kindle because of people picking it up and while I hav a mix of classics & different generes seemed to always end up opening one I rather they not. I also had the problem that my amazon prone account was linked to hubby’s iPad & our work account for amazon. Felt bad all my books with their covers were on his iPad. But I eventually ended up taking over his account. I for the new paper white & am excited to set it up I hope it is easy to get all my books over. Thank you again!